The new Salvia cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the inventor, Howard Bentley, in Wonga Park, Victoria, Australia. The objective of the breeding program was to produce new Salvia varieties with denser plant habits, strong garden performance, in a range of flower colors. The controlled pollination resulting in this new variety was made during March and April of 2007.
The parent variety is Salvia gregii×microphylla ‘Eggben005’, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 24,151. The parent variety was self-pollinated to produce an F2 generation of seed. This seed was collected, sown and grown outdoors under field conditions. The new variety was identified as a potentially interesting selection in October of 2009, at a research greenhouse in Wonga Park, Australia. Further observations and evaluations were made throughout 2010 and 2011.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar ‘EGGBEN008’ by vegetative cuttings was first performed during 2011, at a research greenhouse in Wonga Park, Australia. Subsequent propagation has shown that the unique features of this cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.